Improving VMAT dose calculation accuracy and planning quality via a GPU-accelerated Fourier transform dose...

Area of Science:

• Medical Physics
• Radiation Oncology
• Computational Imaging

Background:

• Inverse planning often uses less accurate dose calculation algorithms, leading to errors and suboptimal treatment plans.
• Dose calculation errors (DCEs) and planning failure rates (PFRs) necessitate plan re-optimization, impacting efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a new GPU-accelerated Fourier Transform Dose Calculation (FTDC) algorithm against Multi-Resolution Dose Calculation (MRDC).
• To determine if FTDC reduces DCEs and PFRs while improving treatment planning efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Fifty lung SBRT plans were optimized using both MRDC and FTDC algorithms.
• Acuros XB (AXB) was used for final dose verification.
• DCEs were calculated as the percent difference between AXB and the final optimization dose.
• Plan quality was assessed using a scoring system to determine PFRs.

Main Results:

• FTDC demonstrated excellent agreement with AXB for planning target volume (PTV) coverage.
• DCEs for thoracic organs-at-risk (OARs) were reduced with FTDC compared to MRDC.
• FTDC resulted in a lower PFR (10%) versus MRDC (32%).
• FTDC with GPU acceleration reduced optimization time by 75%.

Conclusions:

• FTDC offers superior dose calculation accuracy compared to MRDC.
• Utilizing FTDC during optimization enhances treatment plan quality and efficiency.
• GPU acceleration further optimizes the benefits of FTDC in radiation therapy planning.